Translations of Tibetan Buddhist Texts
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Latest translation
Added 24 July 2019
Instilling Confidence and Trust: An Inventory of the Sacred Contents of the Jarung Khashor Stūpa
by Tulku Rigdzin Pema
After the famous Boudha Stūpa (known to Tibetans as 'Jarung Khashor') was severely damaged during the 2015 earthquake in Kathmandu, Tulku Rigdzin Pema (b. 1948) headed the project to restore it. This inventory lists the sacred items placed inside the stūpa during its restoration, explains how stūpas are filled with relics, and describes the benefits of restoring and worshipping them.
Recent additions
July 2019
The Profound Path of Guru Yoga: A Way to Freedom for the Fortunate | Ngöndro
revealed by Sera Khandro Kunzang Dekyong Wangmo
This guru yoga, which Sera Khandro describes as a visionary experience put it into words, is a supplement to the Dharmatā Ḍākinīs' Secret Treasury (Chönyi Khandrö Sangdzö) cycle. It includes many of the standard elements of a preliminary practice (ngöndro) and is structured around the 'Four Dharmas of Gampopa', i.e., turning the mind towards the Dharma, making progress along the path, clarifying confusion, and allowing confusion to dawn as wisdom. Read text >
Prayer for this Life, the Next and the Bardos | Prayers
by Khenchen Ngawang Palzang
This four-verse prayer to Vimalamitra, Longchenpa and Khenchen Ngawang Palzang (alias Pema Ledrel Tsal, 1829–1941) himself requests inspiration and blessing for the attainment of realization and enlightenment either in the present lifetime or during the intermediate states of dying, dharmatā or becoming. Read text >
The Play of Illusion: An Autobiography | Biography
by Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö
Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1893–1959) wrote this verse autobiography at the request of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–1991). Its detailed lists of teachings received, practices accomplished and teachings given later formed the basis of the master's full biography that Dilgo Khyentse himself wrote. Read text >
Swift Infusion of Blessings: A Guru Yoga based on Jamgön Mipham Gyatso | Guru Yoga
by Shechen Gyaltab Gyurme Pema Namgyal
The shorter of two guru yoga texts focusing on the great Nyingma scholar and polymath Jamgön Mipham Rinpoche (1856–1912) composed by Shechen Gyaltsab Gyurme Pema Namgyal (1871–1926), one of the master's foremost disciples. It includes refuge, bodhicitta, visualization, accumulation of merit, invocation and prayer, mantra recitation, empowerment, and dissolution. Read text >
Highlights from archive
The Bodhisattva’s Garland of Jewels | Mind Training
by Atiśa Dīpaṃkara
This short text—entitled Bodhisattvamaṇyāvalī in Sanskrit—is regarded as a classic work of the Mind Training (blo sbyong) tradition. With its direct and pithy language, it is not so much a poem as a series of maxims on the bodhisattva path. Read text >
A Song of Amazement Inspired by Practice Experience | Meditation
by Sera Khandro
This song of amazement originates in a vision that Sera Khandro had while staying in retreat at Nyimalung in Amdo at the age of twenty-nine. The text is her response to the spirits and demons who appeared to her and asked what she was doing. Read text >
* Lotsāwa ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་; lo tsā ba n. Title used for native Tibetan translators who worked together with Indian scholars (or paṇḍitas) to translate major buddhist texts into Tibetan from Sanskrit and other Asian languages; it is said to derive from lokacakṣu, literally "eyes of the world". See also paṇḍita.
